I’m a huge fan of the Haunted Mansion attraction and its always in my top things to do when I visit a Disney theme park and when custom artist Jared Flores emailed some pictures of his latest Haunted Mansion series. I had to share them with our readers.

This past weekend, vinylmation artist Gerald Mendez showcased his newest custom creation at the “Cereal Killers Art Show Gallery” located at GCS Clothing in Pomona, California. Mendez is known for his artistic mastery on many vinylmation classics including Ariel from the Little Mermaid series and Cinderella from the Clock Strikes Twelve set.

Titled, “With Cherry on Top!”, this roughly 3 foot vinylmation has all the charm expected from a Mendez creation. This vinylmation beautifully and simply depicts a shiny and glittery Mickey silhouette holding a dripping ice cream cone. True to Disney magic, this figure contains two “hidden Mickeys”. The trademark ears can be found on the scoop of ice cream as well as on the lone cherry.

If this custom vinylmation became a general release, I would definitely be in line to buy one. What do you think?

We love showing off the latest Custom Vinylmation and we wanted to share with you some details on a Jared Flores who sent in some details and photos of his latest work which look simply stunning.

I have been out of the country for several months in Europe. While there I was doing volunteer work, using my skills as an artist to spread awareness about social injustices such as human trafficking. I have returned, and so have returned to creating custom Vinylmation designs.

These featured designs have been created as pieces up for flash sales, as well as commissioned work. I am working diligently to push my craft and make designs that really push whats capable with plastic and paint. I have some very special designs coming up in the near future, including a complete new mystery set.

One of my favorite movies or all time is Pixar’s Cars. Although not one of Pixar’s most critically acclaimed films, it sure struck a chord with me. From 1996 to 2001, I was stationed at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina. When you live in North Carolina, you can’t help but be consumed by the sport of stock car racing. Sundays became NASCAR days. If we weren’t watching it on television, we were at the track. I was a huge Rusty Wallace fan, and my husband was a huge Mark Martin fan. We attended at least 8 races a year all over the Southeastern U.S. We were at Bristol Motor Speedway to see Rusty get his 50th win, and we were at Daytona when Dale Earnhardt sadly lost his life.

As much as we loved racing, we also loved Disney and Pixar! You can imagine how excited I was when Pixar announced the making of this film. It was the best of both worlds! Pixar really did their racing research, and the premiere was even held at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina. The character Tex, the owner of Dinoco, is voiced by Humpy Wheeler, the president of this racetrack at the time.

This past September, Tom Shultis of NorCal Customs created an awesome custom 3 inch Pixar blind box series. Included in this series was a Lightning McQueen with gorgeous candy red metallic paint. When I saw the pictures of it, I went bananas! I purchased one blind box, and look who was in it!

In the voice of Mater, “He must have knowed I wanted that one!” The metallic paint is awesome, and the the detailed blue eyes on this little guy are stunning! I loved it so much, I contacted Tom to see if he could make me a 9 inch Lightning McQueen. He was already priming a 9 inch Vinylmation to do just that! The candy apple red paint just glistens, and the Rust-eze logo looks like it just came off of Lightning’s hood!

The arms are adorned with Lightning’s sparkling metallic bolts. Ka-chow!

The design on the back of this vinyl is what makes it so special to me. My favorite race was the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tennessee. It was one of the toughest tickets in NASCAR, and we had season tickets high up on the front stretch! The camera flashes went crazy when the green flag waved, and this was depicted perfectly by Pixar in the movie’s opening race sequence. Although this track was referred to by Pixar as “The Motor Speedway of the South”, Tom placed “Bristol Motor Speedway” on the back of the head. Every time I look at this vinyl, I remember all if the great times I had at that track!

Shortly after Lightning arrived, I realized that he couldn’t be displayed without his main squeeze, Sally. Tom created a beautiful blue metallic Sally that really compliments Lightning. Her ears have a really cute touch, with the Cozy Cone logo, as well as a picture of a car sleeping inside a cone.

Sally wouldn’t be complete without a pinstripe tattoo on her back!

Thanks to the awesome artwork of Tom Shultis, Lightning McQueen and Sally are still getting cozy at the Cone!

My Sundays have changed in recent years. My favorite driver retired from the sport, and my husband and I have moved to the Northeast, away from the iconic race tracks of the South. We have been blessed with 2 wonderful kids, and our Sundays are focused on them. Perhaps one day my kids will enjoy auto racing as much as my husband and I did. But for now, I just look at these beautiful customs and remember all the great times I had at the track!

Welcome to the Vinylmation Kingdom Custom Showcase. When I saw this Vinylmation on our Artist Unleashed Facebook group, I had to share this one with our readers. Ryan Branoff’s Hawaiian Rollercoaster featuring Lilo & Stitch is simply fantastic.

I’m very excited to share with all of you one of my latest customs, inspired by Lilo & Stitch! This piece came to me when I purchased one of the Disney ornaments back in the fall and have been working on this concept ever since. This is a 3-piece set with Lilo & Stitch placed inside the head of the 9inch figure that serves as the coin-op spaceship that they ride outside of the convenience store in the movie. I then chose to do two different scenes on the front and back of the vinyl. This piece will be for sale. PM me if you have any interest.

Hello! Welcome! My name is Ryan and I’ll be featuring “Out of the Box” each week with the aim of highlighting a vinylmation/combo pack and talking about the vinylmation’s history- everything from the inspiration to the Disney history to its release.

BACKGROUND: Chip and Dale are infamous characters we have grown to know very well. They are actually my all time favorite characters. Did you know about there short stint as detectives? Well, debuting on March 4, 1989, Chip and Dale became Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers where they were personified beyond the meager squeaks heard in earlier cartoons. Along with Gadget, Monterrey Jack, and Zipper, the gang started a crime fighting detective agency.

The show was created to jump onto the coattails of the highly successful Ducktales. When Tad Stones, producer of Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers, pitched the show to Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, it did no originally include Chip n’ Dale; however, they felt it best to have established characters in the show. As we have seen with vinylmations, series with the backing of familiar characters seems to do much better (i.e. Park series vs. Urban series).

The show was later added to the Disney Afternoon lineup in 1998-1999. A frequent arch nemesis in the series was Fat Cat, whom we recently saw in line up for Villains 4 vinylmation series.

Gadget Go Coaster in Disneyland’s Toontown

There is definitely a degree of nostalgia for the Disney Afternoon series, which is why I believe the first series, composed primarily of principle characters, created a frenzy of early morning line ups and immediate sell outs. In fact, the Rescue Rangers set was my very first early morning D-street adventure. I also wanted to include a picture of one of my favorite rides at Disneyland as a kid- Gadget’s Go Coaster. The Disney Afternoon Series 2 were/still in stores longer compared to the first series. The edition sizes increased in the second series and more obscure characters were introduced.

REVIEW: The Disney Afternoon Series 1 is an awesome series! Overall, I really do like this version of Chip n’ Dale. The Dale is spot on! One can immediately see his playful demeanor and his vibrant Hawaiian shirt. On the other hand, the expression on Chip’s face missed the mark. The beady eyes look almost menacing and does not truly reflect the character. For example, a determined or more serious facial expression would have been more appropriate. I do however, really like Chip’s hat. Considering not many original mold vinylmations came with accessories, the Indiana Jones inspired hat is a fantastic addition.

Thank you for reading! I’ll be posting on a weekly basis on Saturdays. I’ll be posting RAKs occasionally- let’s start now!

RAK: FIRST PERSON TO ANSWER BOTH QUESTIONS CORRECTLY WINS

What was my first vinylmation (Hint- Thomas Scott)?

The Chip n’ Dale Rescue Rangers show introduction/theme song has a montage of various clips from the show. Name as many villains as you can!

This coming Friday the next blind box series from the Custom Artist Project goes on sale, this blind box set features lots of different artists but this series is set up like a standard 12 set with a chaser and 2 of each figure. This set features some variant editions of those figures.

Welcome to the Vinylmation Kingdom, Custom Showcase. We wanted to show off the latest Custom Vinylmation series from Mark J Hoffmann.

SNEAK PEEK of my Custom Vinylmation series “A Day in the Park”. This Blind a Box series contains 12 vinyls, including a chaser. The series goes on sale Sunday, November 10 at 12 noon PST. Each custom will sell for $85….shipping included.

So at noon PST on the 10th of November go to markhoffmann.storenvy.com .You can order as many as you like from the set. Once the 12 are gone, that’s it. Vinyls will be mailed out that following Monday and I will provide you with a tracking number. GOOD LUCK! Special thanks to Louie Furgal for making all of the awesome banners on my personal and art page. Also, to Casey Maute for making all the hand held accessories!

Welcome to the Vinylmation Kingdom, Custom Showcase, Each week Vinylmation Kingdom talks to a Custom Artist about their latest project, the inspiration behind it along with some other questions we’ve put to the artists. In this edition, I caught up with Gillian Rice.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

Well I started painting vinylmation in July 2012, I had been in school for the past year so sadly customs have been on the back burner. Now that I’m graduated, I am back :)

What is your latest custom project?

My latest custom is my Wall-E and Eve 3″.

Where do you get your Inspiration for your latest Custom Vinylmation?

I was watching Wall-E, one of my favorite movies, and I have always loved the message it has and the cute love story :)

How do you go about designing your Custom?

I usually sketch some ideas first on a vinylmation template to start the planning, or sometimes I will just draw right onto the vinyl if I’m feeling random!

How many hours went into making your latest Custom project?

I sat down and made my wall-e custom in about 4-5 hours.

What are some of your tips or tricks you can share with others?

Buy really tiny paintbrushes! That is what has made the difference for me. And just be patient (I’m still working on that one!)

Which mold do you prefer to paint on and why?

The new mold! It’s smoother and plus the feet come off so it easier to paint :) I sometimes use the old mold for animals though.